I'll Be Here
by asingulardoorknob
Summary: Peter is severely injured and visits Tony in the middle of the night. /IRONDAD/SPIDERSON/


A young boy stood over the sleeping figure of an older man.

"Mr. Stark?" He asked giving the sleeping man a gentle nudge. The man opened his eyes groggily.

"Kid?"He asked, "you shouldn't be here, it's 2am and you're supposed to be in the med-bay." The boy nodded sadly.

"I know, Mr. Stark. I just wanted to see you." The man smiled warmly and sat up in his bed. He looked into the young boys warm brown eyes, and sighed.

"Fine, you can stay for a little bit, but you have to go back to the med-bay soon." Peter nodded and sat down beside Tony on the bed. They sat there in comfortable silence for twenty minutes, the coolness in the dark room washing over them. Tony turned to face Peter.

He should be in the med-bay right now. He lost two and a half litres of blood for Christ's sake, but somehow, the young boy had healed enough to walk all the way up to Tony's room. Just to see the genius. Tony's mind drifted back to earlier that night.

Peter had been swinging around as Spider-man stopping crime after crime. He was a little sloppy though because, as Tony had later learned, Peter hadn't slept in three days. According to Peter's AI Karen, Peter had had a nightmare one night and had been to afraid to fall asleep since. He hadn't thought his sleep deprivation would effect him, because of his spider powers, but boy was he wrong. Only three nights later Peter was fighting a masked man with a knife and misjudged a jump. The knife had driven right into the side of his stomach and caused Peter to fall to the ground. The man had then proceeded to take the knife back out and stabbed Peter three more times. Tony had arrived on the scene to find the boy laying unconscious in a large pool of his own blood.

"Mr. Stark?" Peter asked gently, pulling Tony out of his thoughts. "I'm sorry, that was stupid of me, assuming that if I didn't sleep it wouldn't effect me. I should have known better." Tony shook his head.

"It's not your fault Pete. I get not wanting to sleep because of a nightmare. I was the same a few years ago." Peter sighed, and rested his head on Tony's shoulder. It felt cold and uncomfortable, but it was probably just a part of Peter's healing factor.

"Tony?" Peter said tentatively. Tony looked back towards him and smiled. "Yeah, kid?" Peter swallowed nervously and stood up.

"Thankyou, for everything and just know, I'm here, I'll always be here." Tony stood up and pulled Peter into a tight hug.

"I know kid." He said, tears welling up in the corners of his eyes. "I know." They stood there hugging for a long time, neither one bothering to keep track of how much time had passed. Finally Peter pulled away.

"I'd better get back down to the med-bay before anyone realizes I'm missing." He said a sad smile appearing on his face. "Here, before I go, I want you to have this." Peter said holding out a small, badly wrapped package. Tony smiled and took it from him. He quickly unwrapped it and pulled out a small Iron Man figurine. Peter shuffled his feet nervously. "It was mine as a kid. My favorite toy. I want you to have it." Tony blinked back a few tears.

"Why are you giving me this, kid?" Peter swallowed and blinked back a few tears of his own.

"You'll understand soon." He said sadly. Tony nodded slowly.

"I'll be there tomorrow morning, when you wake up." Peter looked at the floor guiltily.

"Okay, Tony. Thankyou again, for everything." Tears welled up in Peter's eyes. Tony smiled and pulled him into another hug.

"I love you kid." He whispered. Peter smiled and pulled back.

"I love you too, Dad." He said and ran out of the room and down the hallway.

Tony made his way downstairs at seven o'clock the next morning, only to find Pepper standing in front of the door.

She had stayed downstairs with Peter last night. It was the only way Tony had been able to sleep, knowing that someone he trusted was watching Peter.

"Hey, Pep, how's Peter?" He asked happily, bending over to give her a gentle kiss. Pepper looked down guiltily, a few tears running down her cheeks. "What's wrong?" Tony asked nervously.

"Tony I'm sorry, Peter didn't make it through the night. He's gone." She whispered, hugging Tony firmly. Tony felt his whole world collapse around him. His heart rate sped up and he couldn't breath, tears were running down his face. He couldn't stand, Pepper was the only thing keeping him upright.

"No." He whispered, his face contorted with grief.

"I'm sorry, Tony." Pepper whispered again. Tony pulled himself out of Pepper's grip and immediately fell to the ground.

"No,no, no,no NO!" He let out a yell of pain as he punched the wall had hard as he could. The drywall crumbled around his fist as he pulled it back out from the wall.

He knew his fist was pounding in pain but he couldn't feel it. He couldn't feel anything. He could here Pepper trying to calm him down, but he couldn't concentrate. He couldn't do anything. He didn't want to do anything. Peter had been the only reason he could do anything. Tony turned around to face Pepper.

"How did he die?" He whispered. "He was fine yesterday. Only five hours ago he was strong enough to come upstairs." Tony whispered, his voice gravelly. Pepper looked at him in confusion.

"Tony," she started gently, "Peter never left the med-bay, and he passed away six hours ago, at 1:30am." Tony looked at her wide-eyed.

"He came upstairs to my room at 2am. I swear." said Tony as tears raced down his cheeks. "I swear." Pepper merely shook her head, wiping the tears from her eyes. Tony let out a loud sob. "He came to my room and gave me his favorite toy from when he was younger and said I would understand why...later..." Tony whispered, in realisation.

He ran from the med-bay and up to his room, and there sitting on the nightstand was the badly wrapped package with the little Iron Man figurine standing beside it.


End file.
